


Darkness, Take Me

by idrilsdarkwritings (idrilhadhafang)



Series: Sith Kylo [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Angry Poe Dameron, Character Rerailment For Poe Dameron, Finn is a good bro, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, He gets better, M/M, Manipulative Sheev Palpatine, Past Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Past Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron Is A Mess, Sith Kylo Ren, Slow Burn Darkpilot, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, Tags Contain Spoilers, both sorta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:36:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21995362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilsdarkwritings
Summary: Hux makes a different choice against Kylo, and the Resistance’s predicament after Crait gets worse.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren
Series: Sith Kylo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583323
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Darkness, Take Me

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Yeah, I should be working on my previous WIPs. This jumped up and bit me. Also, if Palpatine sounds different here, I’m mostly drawing on PT/OT-era Palpatine.

Exegol. Kylo Ren had heard stories of it when he was a boy, about the true homeworld of the Sith. There were others, of course — Moraband was but one example. Ziost, Malachor...as long as there was darkness, someone would find a home for said darkness. The Light and the Dark — Snoke had been obsessed with both sides of the Force. With the balance. Kylo had never known why. It did not matter, of course. Snoke was dead.   
  
One year. One year, and Hux had deposed Kylo as Supreme Leader. Everything Kylo had thought he could build, gone up in smoke. And now, he was on his way to Exegol. For allies. Finding the Wayfinder had been difficult, but it was well worth it. 

Landing and entering the dark chamber, Kylo couldn’t help but feel like it was too quiet. Even looking around, seeing the odd tanks with beings that bore an odd resemblance to Snoke...had Snoke come from this place? The former Supreme Leader had spoken of how he was forged from nothing. Had he been oddly literal in that respect? 

And there were more of them.

”The mighty Kylo Ren.” And that voice, that slithery voice...Kylo had heard it before. He knew it. “I knew you would come.”

"I know you,” Kylo said. “I felt you."

”Of course you did. I’ve always been there. I’ve always been waiting for you.” A beat. “Come closer.”

Kylo drew closer, towards the figure framed in shadow. What he saw was a pallid visage that he was certain that he’d seen in a nightmare. Almost toad-like, with pale, glazed eyes, nothing like the Sith yellow eyes he had seen in his visions. Underneath the hood, the face was chilling to behold. 

The twisted face smiled. “Are you so surprised, Kylo Ren? I never left. The Dark Side can die a thousand times, and still it will rise again as strong as before.”

”You somehow managed to survive being blasted into atoms,” Kylo said. “How?”

”Nothing is impossible with the Dark Side of the Force.” Palpatine paused. “I have to say I’m disappointed. Deposed from your own Order by a Force blind General?”

”He was cunning...”

”And yet, one must act first to keep from being betrayed,” Palpatine said. “It is the way of the Sith. The strongest must rule if we are to survive.”

”And yet my grandfather betrayed you.”

Palpatine sneered. “A weakness. Even he was hesitant to kill Skywalker. Said he was just a boy. Pathetic. You and he are alike, though different in all the ways that matter. You have his sentiment, though his conviction...you waver. Compassion. For the traitor, for the girl, the pilot you call your soulmate...it grows in you like a cancer.”

”I am not weak,” Kylo argued. 

”I suppose I can’t entirely blame you, boy,” Palpatine said, almost dismissively. “Snoke was an incompetent teacher. As incompetent as he was stupid. Every one of my previous apprentices failed somehow. Maul, Tyranus, that fool Grievous, Vader, Snoke...” He looked intently down at Kylo. “Tell me, young Solo — ”

”Don’t call me that,” Kylo said. 

Palpatine ignored him. “What makes you think you’ll be any different? The one apprentice who succeeds?”

Kylo paused. Then, “Killing Snoke has broken my chains. Before, I was uncertain.”

”And you are free?”

”I am.” And yet at the same time, Kylo had never felt more lost. The girl, Rey — perhaps he had latched on to her because in the end, she was lost too, albeit under different circumstances. Lost. And then she had left him behind. Waltzed out of his life. Just as Poe had done before (and even that memory stung), just as his parents had done. 

”You are a poor liar,” Palpatine said, softly. Then, “You are alone, Kylo Ren. You are nothing to those around you. Not to me, though. Never to me. Become my apprentice. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force, kill the fool Hux, and take your true place as leader of what will be an Empire!”

An empire. Even that thought...from the time he was young, Ben Solo had all but sensed how out of balance the galaxy truly was. Snoke (and Palpatine) had shown him as much, how the galaxy’s denizens were all but screaming in the dark. The galaxy was too loud, too chaotic. And it got worse when Poe kept coming back from the Academy, that look in his eyes like he had seen horrors that were beyond measure. 

An empire. He had promised as much to Rey when he had offered to rule with her as his apprentice. He had somehow pictured Poe as his consort, Rey as his apprentice. Nothing standing in their way. 

He had pictured something other than hiding from Hux, biding his time for some sort of revenge. Kylo Ren was never good at waiting. He preferred action, not merely conniving. 

”I may need you,” Kylo said. “For the time being.”

Palpatine smiled the sort of smile a firaxan shark would flinch at. “Excellent. Snoke has taught you at least some things. Treachery is the way of the Sith.” A beat. “I believe the name Kylo Ren no longer suits you. It suited you once upon a time, but no longer. From this moment henceforth, you will be known as Darth Caedus.”

 _Caedus_. Somehow, it suited him. “Kylo” he thought was his name forever. Now, Caedus knew, it was just a transition. It was something that was leading up to his final destiny. He had never been a good Jedi. He had never been a good Knight of Ren. He could change the course of his destiny, though. Make it grander. His Master, his true teacher, had finally found him. And though Kylo Ren was weak, Caedus wasn’t. Snoke had said he would complete his training. He had lied. But Palpatine would. 

”By the grace of your training, I will not falter,” Caedus said. “I will not fail.”

***

Kylo had fallen further. Hux had taken the helm of the First Order, and was likely to be worse than his predecessor. Rey didn’t see it all, across the Bond, but she knew she felt it. Their situation had gotten worse. Of course it could always get worse, Rey thought. Hux had made it worse, in ways he could foresee and ways he couldn’t.

And the Emperor...but that wasn’t possible. He had been blasted to atoms after Vader had thrown him down the reactor shaft. How could he go through that and simply not die?

”Rey?” Finn’s voice, soft. “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

And then Poe. “What happened?” Rey hadn’t always gotten on with Poe; he could be like itching powder in an envirosuit, but he did sound genuinely worried. 

Rey turned around, looked at them. “The situation’s gotten worse,” she said. 

”After Crait,” Poe said, “I didn’t think it could get worse.”

”Hux is in charge,” Rey said. “And B — Kylo’s in the hands of the Sith.”

She almost called him “Ben”. It was an old habit, reminding herself of when she thought there was something worth salvaging. When she'd believed in him. 

The way Poe looked...he looked like he had frozen. Rey couldn’t say why. Given Poe’s history with Kylo, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Considering what Kylo did to him. Was he just afraid for the Resistance? There was that, but there was also something more. 

”We...” Poe sighed. “We can’t just run away. But if we don’t, they’ll just pick us off. And...”

”It’s more than that,” Rey said. “Isn’t it?”

Poe glared at her. She had seen him get snarky, but never angry. 

”What the hell do you know?” he snapped. "Why were you even so invested in him beforehand? It’s not like you knew him. What, you had some friendly chats and all of a sudden, you think you know his life story?”

”You’re talking nonsense,” Rey snapped back. “And why do you care? You didn’t know Ben!”

Finn raised an eyebrow. It was clear he was bewildered by the whole thing. 

Poe was breathing heavily. “You don’t know anything about me, Rey,” he said. “Or him.”

He left. 

Finn sighed. “I’m sorry, Rey. Way he’s been acting lately, it’s not him.”

”What do you see in that cocky, treasonous idiot?” Rey said. 

”He did make mistakes,” Finn said. “And he’s been on a hair trigger lately. But he was the first one to show me kindness when I escaped the First Order.”

”Did he?” How someone so insufferable could have one moment of grace, Rey didn’t know. Or maybe it was the other way around. 

Finn nodded. “He actually gave me the name ‘Finn’. We had...letter designations. Followed by numbers. It was just another way to show we didn’t matter. That we were disposable. But he saw a sentient being when he looked at me. I guess ever since D’Qar, he’s been acting odd.” A sigh. “I’ll try and talk to him.”

”Good luck,” Rey said. 

***

Crossing into the next room, Finn saw that Poe was so stiff that he was all but shaking. Finn couldn’t say he was used to this. Poe, simply, lashing out at people. He took a deep breath. “Poe...can we talk, or are you just going to rip into me too?”

Poe turned around. He looked tired, Finn thought, more than tired actually. Then, “You’re really expecting that?”

Finn sighed. “I’m worried about you,” he said. “I know that you’re under a lot of stress...”

”It’s not just that. Finn...if you tell anyone else, they’re gonna think I’m letting them down.”

”I doubt you could.” Even at Poe’s worst, Finn knew that he was an inspiration to everyone. Mostly because of who he was when you got down to it, a good man. 

”It’s different. I should hate Kylo...or whatever stupid name he’s calling himself now. And I did. After the Finalizer, I did. Then I saw him on Crait...”

”You recognized him,” Finn said. “How?”

Poe took a deep breath. He sounded and looked so very alone. “We were friends,” he said. “Our families knew each other — my mother was a pilot that nearly shot down Luke after Endor.” A faint trace of a smile that faded. “She was the General’s friend. And my father was a Pathfinder under Han Solo. From there, I met Kylo. Met Ben.”

Finn tilted his head. Then, “I can’t imagine him as a kid.”

”He was, once,” Poe said. “He was sensitive. Extraordinary telepathic powers. He...” Poe paused, almost like he was worried he was saying too much. “He had nightmares. Seizures. The General thought Luke could help and...well, we know how that turned out.”

”So you can’t kill your friend.” Finn tried to think of the man who’d carried Rey off to his shuttle, who gave the order to kill villagers, who committed all sorts of atrocities and left scars on Finn’s back...but unbidden, he thought of someone else. The stormtrooper he’d dueled on Takodana hadn’t just been a complete stranger, but a squadmate angry and confused by Finn’s defection. 

But that stormtrooper had been a victim of indoctrination. Kylo — whoever he was now — surely wasn’t a victim. He couldn’t be. And yet Finn thought of a boy named Ben, having the galaxy in his head and being unable to get it out. 

”Yeah. And there’s more but...you’d think less of me if you knew.”

Finn sighed. “You saw the best in me when I thought it was my fault I was made into a stormtrooper,” he said. “There’s nothing that you could have said or done that would make me, or anyone, think less of you.”

Poe smiled faintly. “I don’t deserve a friend like you, buddy,” he said. “I really don’t.” Then, “I’m sorry I’ve been a schutta. I promised myself when I first joined the Academy, I’d treat everyone with respect. Like they weren’t just my squadron, but my friends." A strained smile. “I really suck at keeping my promises.”

”You don’t have to keep doing this,” Finn said. “It’s not like it’s too late.”

”I guess not. Stars, I wish there was like some sort of apology card I could sign for everyone in the Resistance. I mean...even Holdo.” Poe laughed miserably. “My last words to her were starting a damn mutiny. Kriffed, isn’t it?”

”You didn’t know,” Finn said. “Besides, she would have done what she did even if things hadn’t gone to hell.”

Poe nodded. “I guess.” He sighed. “We’ve got a long fight ahead of us. Darth Kylo on one side, Hux on the other. I just hope...I can be strong. For everybody.”

”You will be.” Even if, Finn thought, it sounded like Poe wasn’t telling him everything. 


End file.
